NEWSWORTHY
Located on the northern shore of Kyushu, Fukuoka is one of Japan's most vibrant cities: It is the fastest-growing city outside Tokyo, it has the youngest average population and has gone to great lengths over the past few years to position itself as Japan's ...
Japan facing customs officer shortage as foreign visitors surge
A serious shortage of customs officers for border control is being encountered amid an increase in travelers from abroad. As the number of foreign tourists is expected to rise further toward the 2020 Games, the Finance Ministry hopes to boost the number of customs officers ...
American DJ David Morales arrested at Fukuoka Airport for allegedly having ecstasy in carry-on bag
American DJ David Morales was arrested Sunday at Fukuoka Airport on suspicion of smuggling drugs from Hong Kong, local police said. Morales was detained at the airport after a customs officer found the drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy. Morales is a well-known figure on the ...
Prize-winning Fukuoka dance team puts Kurume on YouTube radar
The Kurume Municipal Government in Fukuoka Prefecture has released a YouTube video featuring Kyushudanji Shinsengumi, a local boys' dance group that won first place at World of Dance 2015 in Los Angeles, to promote the city. The video, which shows the group in action at ...
'Engineer-friendly' Fukuoka pitches merits in campaign to become tech hub
It's a fast-growing city but with a reasonable cost of living, diverse cuisine and close access to an airport. Plus, the city is willing to support new tech projects. Doesn't that sound like a great place for engineers? That's the sales pitch the city of Fukuoka ...
Hotels and tours in western Japan see cancellations after rain disaster
Thousands of people are canceling trips to popular tourist spots in western Japan even though many of their destinations were left unscathed by the recent deadly rain disaster, local officials said Wednesday. Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, known as one of Japan's oldest hot ...
West Japan rains to be designated 'extremely severe disaster' to increase state aid subsidies
The government plans to designate the torrential rain that wreaked havoc in western Japan as a disaster of extreme severity so that subsidies for reconstruction projects can be increased.
A cram school in the Mabicho district of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, has reopened to accept both its own students and others whose schools were damaged by the region's deadly rains this month. In the wake of the disaster, the city's education board decided to keep ...
About 5,900 flood evacuees still in shelters; Tokyo moves to expedite aid
As of Friday, the deadly rains had caused over 600 landslides in 31 prefectures and halted seven expressways, 39 national roads and 24 train lines.
Japan hit by worst weather disaster in decades: Why did so many die?
Torrential rains unleashed floods and set off landslides in western Japan last week, killing at least 176 people, forcing millions to evacuate and leaving dozens missing in the country's worst weather disaster in 36 years. Below are some reasons for the high death toll: Extreme weather Remnants ...
Water outages continue in flood-hit areas across western Japan, as death toll tops 170
At least 254,084 homes are still cut off from water supples in Hiroshima, Ehime and Okayama prefectures, those hardest hit by last week’s torrential rains.
Torrential rains leave trail of destruction in western Japan
The death toll from torrential rains in western Japan moved above 100 early Monday, with dozens of others still missing after massive flooding and landslides destroyed homes and displaced tens of thousands. This is a selection of scenes of the widespread damage. Rescue workers hunt ...
